DUBAI COLLECTION

Dubai Collection is the city’s first institutional collection of modern and contemporary art, dedicated to inspiring and educating those who live in & visit Dubai. All artworks in the Dubai Collection reflect the values of openness, diversity, and interconnectedness as embodied in the spirit of Dubai and the UAE.

The collection is built in partnership with patrons who support the initiative through an innovative loan system, and all artworks are accessible through the Dubai Collection digital museum, a repository of information and research about all artworks, artists and patrons in the collection. A series of events and temporary exhibitions ensures the public can see the collection in person on a regular basis. Recent exhibitions have included group exhibition When Images Speak at Etihad Museum in 2022, and Encounters, a celebration of prominent Emirati artists presented during Art Dubai 2024.

The Dubai Collection’s Steering Committee is chaired by Her Highness Sheikha Latifa bint Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. An independent Curatorial Committee including leading experts is responsible for the selection of artworks and the overall curatorial direction of the collection. The collection currently comprises 875 artworks on loan from 76 patrons and is growing steadily.

For Art Dubai 2025, Dubai Collection presents ‘Common Grounds’ a new exhibition inviting students from Zayed University to explore universal connections in art, using the Collection as a resource.

‘COMMON GROUNDS’ AT ART DUBAI 2025

Curated by Shamsa Al Qubaisi, Maryam Al Zaabi and Sara Al Sulaimani, and mentored by curatorial advisors Nada Shabout and Magali Arriola.

‘Common Grounds’ brings together diverse artists whose works, while born from distinctly personal and cultural contexts, speak to traversing experiences that resonate across boundaries of geography, culture, and time.

These works, made between the years 1949 and 2024, shed light on the nuanced experiences of belonging, exploring the diverse feelings and connections. Each piece acts as both an entry into the artist’s world and a reflection of our own lived experiences. The exhibition asks you to move beyond passive observation to active engagement, inviting you to discover your own stories within each work. The gallery space becomes a forum for dialogue, where personal interpretations contribute to a larger conversation about our collective experience.

CURATORIAL ADVISORS

Dr. Nada Shabout is an academic, curator and writer whose research and teaching works to confront, address, and respond to the art historical neglect of modern and contemporary art from the Arab world, and its absence from the art history canon.

She is currently a Regents Professor of Art History and the Coordinator of the Contemporary Arab and Muslim Cultural Studies Initiative at the University of North Texas. Nada served as the Project Advisory for the Saudi National Pavilion, Venice Biennale 2019, and is the founding president of the Association for Modern and Contemporary Art from the Arab World, Iran and Turkey, a non-profit organisation that aims to advance the study of this field through the creation of a network of interested scholars and organisations. Through her extensive research, publications, and curatorial projects, Nada has aimed to protect the visual cultural memory of modern Iraqi art. Nada has received major awards as a result of such research, notably the Writers Grants, Andy Warhol Foundation 2018, and a Getty Foundation Grant in 2019 to support the project ‘Mapping Art Histories from the Arab World, Iran and Turkey’.

Magalí Arriola is an independent curator whose work often highlights the potential of the art institution as a platform for debate, and an essential portal to the artists’ perspectives on the world.

She has previously held curatorial positions across Mexico City, most recently Director of Museo Tamayo, and as Museo Jumex Chief Curator organising shows of artists such as James Lee Byars, Guy de Cointet and Danh Vo. Her independent pursuits have also seen her work on international projects, including curating the Mexican Pavilion for the 58th Venice Biennial. Arriola has written extensively for books, and catalogues and has contributed to publications such as Art Forum, Curare, Frieze, Mousse, Manifesta Journal, and The Exhibitionist, among others.